tonight at 10 — friends and families will be able to meet again as lockdown restrictions are eased across the uk over the next few days. after months of online chats — people can gather in groups again of up to six in england, eight in scotland — but still have to stay two metres apart. these changes mean that friends and family can start to meet their loved ones, perhaps seeing both parents at once, or both grandparents at once. and i know that for many people, this will be a long—awaited and joyful moment. wales will confirm its plans tomorrow — as scientists urge caution and warn the situation is still fragile. also tonight... police say dominic cummings may have broken lockdown rules

when he and his family drove to barnard castle — but no action will be taken. on the frontline — the black, asian and minority ethnic nhs staff who are more likely to catch the virus than others — we have a special report. you're, like, "oh, my god, was i careful enough? am i getting it today? will i get it tomorrow?" it's very real. kicking off but in empty stadiums — the premier league season will re—start onjune 17th with two fixtures including man city vs arsenal. applause and after ten weeks of clapping our carers — the woman who came up with the idea suggests tonight should be the last round of applause. and coming up on sportsday on bbc news... fewer scrums, shorter rucks — just some of the ideas from world rugby, as the sport works out how it can possibly restart amid coronavirus.

good evening. lockdown restrictions are being eased again right across the uk over the next few days — with groups of people — from different households finally being allowed to meet in each other‘s gardens or in public spaces. for millions it will be the first time they have been able to meet up with theirfamilies in more than two months. in england the changes come into effect on monday. up to six people will be able to meet but you'll have to be outdoors and stay two metres apart. meanwhile, today durham police issued a statement saying the prime minister's chief adviser dominic cummings might have broken lockdown rules when he drove to barnard castle. they described it as a minor breach of the regulations and said no action would be taken. the latest uk death toll now stands at 37,837 — with 377 reported in the last 2a hours. here's our political

editor laura kuenssberg. what will it look like on the other side? the reflections of a new reality slowly starting to appear. a different life after lockdown, as the rules begin to relax. the prime minister made it official today — the next phase in england is on the way. i cannot and will not throw away all the gains we have made together, and so the changes we are making are limited and cautious. it's thanks to the caution we've shown so far that all five tests are being met. that means from monday, as long as you keep your distance, some freedom will return. we will allow up to six people to meet outside, provided those from different households continue strictly to observe social distancing rules. these changes mean that friends and family can start to meet their loved ones, perhaps seeing both parents at once

or both grandparents at once. and i know that for many people this will be a long—awaited and joyful moment. we've been following the rook family in wolverhampton since the start of the restrictions. hi! today, at a picnic, they sat apart from grandma in the park, but from monday, the web call with the cousins can take place in real life. it's great news, we're really looking forward to welcoming friends and family back into the garden, or being able to see them in the park. ultimately, we are still really cautious. but the limits are still all too realforjames o'hara. i'm the landlord at the great gatsby in sheffield. his pub fell silent two months ago. he doesn't know when or perhaps if his business will be back. the great british pub, one of the really good institutions within this country, is genuinely at risk. in terms of what the future holds, it's really difficult to say. as you can tell, empty shelves, an empty pub. it's been like this for two

months now, just over. now it's a question of how long can we survive with the doors closed? this is not a click yourfingers moment when suddenly things will snap back to normal, and moving safely into a different—looking world depends on all of us still respecting the government's keep your distance rules, but could that be more complicated after the last few torrid days? there was an outcry when it was revealed that the prime minister's top adviser travelled from london to durham and made a 60—mile separate journey out of lockdown to the town of barnard castle. the police said today they would have told dominic cummings to go back to his family home, if they had stopped him that day, concluding there might have been a minor breach of the rules. if one of your most senior team wasn't paying proper attention to the rules, why should anyone else? and to the doctors, if i may, is that the kind of example that you want people to follow? durham police said that they were

going to take no action, and that the matter was closed, and i intend to draw a line under the matter. you've asked chris and patrick, but i am going to interpose myself, if i may, and protect them from what i think would be an unfair and unnecessary attempt to ask a political question. it's very, very important that our medical officers and scientific advisers do not get dragged into what i think most people will recognise is fundamentally a political argument. but the pressure on the prime minister won't disappear. nobody should be stopped from answering questions from journalists. but it's the prime minister here who's in issue. he's been too weak throughout this whole episode. he should have acted swiftly. if i'd been prime minister, i would have sacked dominic cummings. we have now effectively wasted a week when we should have been concentrating on the safety of what comes next. political dramas pale, of course, next to the loss felt

by so many and the true effects on the country that are emerging piece by piece. the prime minister clearly trying to draw a line under the dominic cummings affair, has he succeeded? it was almost like the prime minister had an allergy to talking about it in any way shape or form but it is relevant because we are in a situation where whatever dominic cummings did ordidn‘t a situation where whatever dominic cummings did or didn't do, the government is asking everyone to pay attention to a different set of rules, after that very blanket instruction of stay—at—home, we are now moving into the next phase, the coronavirus has not disappeared as a threat, far from coronavirus has not disappeared as a threat, farfrom it, but it has abated enough for the government and eve ryo ne abated enough for the government and everyone to abated enough for the government and eve ryo ne to m ove abated enough for the government and everyone to move into a different era. but what has happened has been a very significant distraction for the government this week, no question about that, and it has also caused damage between number ten and the conservative parliamentary party

but with a majority of 80 you might say, so what? but in terms of the political handling of everything thatis political handling of everything that is something which will matter. many members of the public have also seen this as an important issue, not everybody thinks the same thing and eve ryo ne everybody thinks the same thing and everyone will have to make up their own mind, but it has been a disruption at a very vital moment where the government has said the infection, the disease, is at a stage where we can slowly start to move on after the very dramatic events of the last few months. but in terms of their whole handling of it, it is certainly clear that it has been very very bumpy and inside government they are acutely aware that after some of the issues which happened in the first phase of all of this, those difficulties over ppe, the halting progress over getting testing really going, they are acutely aware that the handling on our way out of this, the slow journey to a new normal is what many

members of the public will feel in their own lives and ultimately may welljudge them from a political point of view. however the prime minister presented today, however much the instruction is that the world will slowly start to begin to change again, it is worth remembering that we are at the beginning, the first steps of a journey that will take many miles. thanks forjoining us. in northern ireland people have been able to meet up in groups already. wales is expected to set out its plans tomorrow. not being able to see loved ones has been one of the toughest parts of this nine—week lockdown. so what do people make of today's announcement? danny savage has been talking to people in harrogate. in the open spaces of harrogate today, sunbathers were keeping their distance from each other, but very soon, pairs of people may grow to groups of six. people will really appreciate that, families, people having business meetings, so yeah, that's really good.

i think people do have to bear in mind, if it is six, that they stick to six and don't take advantage of it. week after week after week, without being able to communicate with people and meet up with friends and so on nearby. so, yes, i think it's an excellent idea. social distancing is still at the heart of easing restrictions. in england, partially reopening primary schools and open—air markets from monday could be good for town centres. dentists have been told they can open from the 8th ofjune. people, though, still want reassurance. the thought of opening up full—time again, gosh, who's going to look after my children? and they are going back to school, but then, do i feel like i want them to go back to schooljust yet? do i send them back in september? is it too soon? so, my mindset is all over the place, what is the right decision? the thing is, what people will emerge to see here will be rather different than before lockdown.

shops which were here before have gone, leaving those left worried. we shouldn't have empty spaces, it's a premium shopping street, you wouldn't expect to see empty spaces on bond street, and you shouldn't here. nobody wants a neighbour that's a boarded—up shop. it's not good for business at all, it doesn't inspire confidence in the visitor. there's frustration, too. this hotel has been accommodating key workers throughout lockdown, but the sun trap beer garden will still have to remain closed. i would say, "boris, trust us." those that can prove they can do it safely, like we've done for the last 9—10 weeks, give us a chance. we are edging out of lockdown, but for some people and businesses, things are still moving too slowly. danny savage, bbc news, harrogate. scotland is easing its lockdown measures from tomorrow. first minister nicola sturgeon said it follows what she called a "sustained" downward trend in the spread of the virus. the new rules cover some

outdoor activities. these include sunbathing, golf and fishing. members of two households will be able to meet outdoors for a picnic or a barbecue in groups of up to eight people. and garden centres and drive—through takeaways can re—open. these measures amount to the first of four phases in scotland's plans to re—open the country. with more here's our scotland editor sarah smith. scotland is taking some cautious steps out of lockdown. a sunny weekend will see people allowed to meet up with those from one other household. up to eight people gathering in total as long as they're outside and two metres apart. these greater freedoms go alongside a new contact tracing system, test and protect. everyone with possible coronavirus symptoms is urged to book a test. if the result is positive, all their recent close contacts will be traced and told to self—isolate for two weeks. test and protect relies heavily on public cooperation. it only works if everybody sticks to the rules,

so public confidence in the system is essential. a significant coronavirus outbreak happened at a nike conference in this edinburgh hotel in late february, when track and trace was government policy. there's controversy over why some people who came close to the nike delegates were never contacted. ten of them spent over an hour in this shop being fitted for kilts. the manager, who was in very close contact with those delegates, later developed flu—like symptoms and she's angry she was never contacted and told she could be at risk. i would have self isolated. i wouldn't have spent time with my elderly dad, my fiance's mother. i wouldn't have gone to the retirement party i went to. so are you worried you endangered other people because you didn't know you were at risk? yes. questions persist about that conference as nicola sturgeon introduces a new testing regime. in order that people can try to have full confidence in your test and protect regime, can you tell us, have you changed

the guidelines for who will be contacted after someone has tested positive for coronavirus? the definition of a contact for test and protect is threefold. firstly, it will be members of your household. secondly, face—to—face contact, which gregor went into detail about on tuesday in terms of what that means, and thirdly, if you have been within two metres of somebody for a period of 15 minutes or more. has that been a change to the guidance? we will go into that face—to—face contact in much more detail so there's a full understanding with the contact tracers as to what is meant by that. people in scotland are being asked to comply with test and protect. there's no legal requirement to do so but the government says it will only work if everybody plays their part. sarah smith, bbc news, glasgow. england's test and trace system was also launched today. thousands of people have been employed as tracers. they will have the task of tracking down those who have been in contact

with someone who has tested positive for the virus. our health editor hugh pym has the latest. for millions of people, a scheme in place today might make a big difference to their lives, though they don't know it yet. potentially they could be told they have met up with someone recently who now has the virus and they will have to self—isolate for two weeks, even if they're not ill. they could find out through an e—mail or text or phone call and then be asked to get in touch with the nhs. from now on, if you're told you have been exposed to an infected person, you must self—isolate for 14 days. they'll hear that from contact tracers, 25,000 of them will do thejob in england and, as their task began, they received a video message from the health secretary, matt hancock. we can't do any of this without you and working together we are part of one big team delivering the service. in the days and weeks ahead, the advice that you give and the support that you offer

will make a difference to the lives of everybody who you speak to. new contact tracers have been signed up and trained and they will work with health professionals, some of whom already have experience talking to patients with infectious diseases and then trying to find out who they may recently have met up with. they're used to going through a detailed account of your movements over the last seven, nine days. we use diaries, we uses cues, days of week, what the weather was like, to help people remember. we are very used to doing that and we will continue to do that. i think this is doable. but one contact tracer, who wanted to remain anonymous, told us she couldn't log on to the system, and so couldn't start today. i was told the system was not even ready yet to start. the guy told me that so far they had a start date for next monday, but not before that. at that moment, i already thought, well, that is quite disappointing.

other contact tracers also struggled to log in this morning. the department of health acknowledged there had been problems, but said that these were being rapidly resolved. the system's been formally launched today, but it's not yet clear so far how many people have been contacted. officials have acknowledged it may take a week or two for the system to be working at its full capacity. hugh pym, bbc news. our medical correspondent fergus walsh is with me now. so restrictions being eased again, but there's clearly nervousness about what could now happen? there is and sir patrick vallance said that we are in a very fragile state and there is very little room for manoeuvre. we have to be cautious. so a lot of nervousness there and it is down to the r number, the rate of infection. with coronavirus with no social

distancing that number is around three and you lead to a doubling and a redoubling of cases every few days. so the lockdown is about bringing down that r to below one and the latest estimate has been over the past two months we have brought it down to somewhere between 0.7 and 0.9. that is very close to getting above one when the outbreak could get out of control again and it is estimated that around 93 in 100 people in england have not yet had covid—19. and around 500 people a day are still being admitted to hospital in england alone, well down on the more than 3,000 a day in april, but the threat is still there. thank you. and if you want more information on the measures announced today and the tracing systems that have been put in place, you can find the details at bbc.co.uk/news/coronavirus and click on the links.

all this week we've been reporting from one of the hospitals hardest hit by the coronavirus. in tonight's report from the royal london hospital in east london, clive myrie meets the black and minority ethnic staff playing a crucial part in trying to save lives. many of them face a higher risk of becoming seriously ill if they catch the disease. the front line of the war on coronavirus is everywhere. the trenches are in the mundane. 0n the floor of a corridor. on a door handle. in the shake of another‘s hand. this man is proud he is waging war on the virus. a ten—year veteran of the cleaning staff at the royal london hospital. he is at work as london wakes and blackbirds sing. all of us cannot be doctors.

someone has to be a doctor, someone has to be a nurse and somebody has to be a domestic. so i'm proud of what i am here. because altogether you are helping to save lives. yeah, all of us come together and then we save more lives. it's a selflessness much admired in this pandemic. those choosing to do what others wouldn't. and so many of the nurses and doctors and consultants, as well as cleaners, the helping hands guiding us through this storm, are black, asian and minority ethnic. somewhere deep down, my heart skipped a little entering the royal london hospital's covid wards. because studies suggest those from the bame community are being affected by the virus disproportionately and are almost twice as likely to die from infection than those who are white. why is unclear.

we had permission from all the patients, all their families, to film. i was nervous. until i came here and my manager told me we are all going to have training. so, as soon as we had the training, everything was fine, i wasn't scared any more, i wasn't panicking any more. and we clean to reduce the infection, so if i don't come, it will spread more. when it comes to bame nhs staff, proximity to the virus through close contact with infected patients is a disproportionate feature of many of their roles in the health service. some argue the nhs needs to examine staff deployment policies for structural racism, where certain workers are retained in lower paid roles. but for most nurses and doctors, white or black, given the correct protection, where else would you want to be, if not cushioning a patient‘s pain?

because when all the fancy labels are stripped away, yourjob is... how are you feeling? ..to care. listen to irene from uganda. a nursing student who we filmed on her very first day on a covid ward. she has the perpetual anxiety of every single nurse or doctor, no matter how experienced, working in that environment with the virus so close. you are like, "oh, my god, was i careful enough? am i getting it today? will i get it tomorrow?" it's very real, yeah but you have to keep strong. i always tell myself someone has got to treat people. i mean, if it were my relatives, i would want someone to care for them, so that kind of thing keeps me going. the muslim chaplain at the royal london has seen the toll on the local asian community in this pandemic.

countless deaths. as he prepares to enter a covid ward at the hospital, on his first visit, prayers for his own safety, before prayers and words of comfort for others. there's too many people to bury and we had some cemeteries where they were having a kind of an islamic version of mass graves, where they would bury ten people in one kind of plot. it's ripped into the heart of our community, a community which is based around the mosque, family relations, being with friends and loved ones on a daily basis. does the virus know a victim is black or white? of course not, but social factors like income and wealth and education affect the quality of the health of all of us. as such, poorer black and ethnic minority communities may be more vulnerable.

but there are other tragedies lurking in this pandemic. for some who have proudly called this country home, but whose hearts belong to a foreign field. in this morgue we came across two bodies. two women. one from west africa and one from north africa. they called britain home. but now there is a purgatory, a final torment, because one of the covid victims wanted a burial in the soil of her birth. but the closed border means her body has sat here for two months. in this mosque, two more bodies shielded by the flags of turkey and northern cyprus. and there are more bodies outside, piling up in shipping containers.

we've been to the royal london a few times to pick up some of our community members that have passed from the virus. i'm waiting for it to hit me. at the moment i can't afford to break down. it's painful. it's too personal, it's close, you know. it doesn't get any closer when you have been growing up in your community and you find yourself having to do the last journey for them, understanding the pain that the families are going through. it's... it's trauma. it's trauma on every level. it's painful. grieving delayed is grieving denied.

this is a shared fight to overcome a shared pain. and it's belief in our shared humanity that will get us through. 0n tomorrow evening's programme, music to soothe in our troubled times. this is the one time i need to stand up and do myjob. this is the one time i absolutely have to be there. and what happens to the nhs when the clapping stops? clive myrie, bbc news. the extraordinary people at the royal london hospital who've been dealing with this virus day after day for months now. the budget airline easyjet is the latest airline to announce job cuts — it says around 11,500 jobs as it struggles with a collapse in air travel caused by the pandemic.

around 30% of the total workforce is expected to be cut. the pilots‘ union balpa describes the move as an ill—considered knee—jerk reaction. nissan's factory in sunderland is to remain open as the carmaker carries out a global restructuring. the factory, which employs around 7,000 people, will restart production injune. however, the firm will close its factory in barcelona — a decision which has prompted protests at the spanish plant. the foreign secretary dominic raab says he's going to make it easierfor some hong kong citizens to move to the uk, unless china reconsiders its new national security law. the move came after china passed legislation to criminalise acts of subversion in hong kong. 0ur xorrespondentjohn sudworth is in beijing. well, there has long been a sense of betrayal after britain's decision not to grant full citizenship to the

people of hong kong after it was handed back to china, but in recent yea rs handed back to china, but in recent years the criticisms have been intensifying with china accused of undermining the very freedoms it promised to protect. to today's decision, bound to be seen by beijing as an affront on its hold over the people and the territory of that city, is a momentous one. as they arrived for the closing day of parliament, beijing's tiananmen square was quiet. there are no protests over lockdowns here. inside, china's president had a spring in his step, the virus under control is seen as vindication, for him, and for a system untroubled by messy democratic debate. there can be no starker illustration of that than this. a new national security law imposed on hong kong with 2878 votes in favour and just one against.

the fear that any anti—china protest might now be classed as subversion has led to an international outcry, including this surprise announcement for the 300,000 hong kongers who hold british overseas passports. if china continues down this path and implements this national security legislation we would change that status and we will remove the six month limit and allow those bno passport holders to come to the uk and to apply to work and study for extendable periods of 12 months and that will itself provide a pathway to citizenship. the move will infuriate china which insists its new law will target only a minority of violent demonstrators. translation: the decision adopted is designed for steady implementation of one country, two systems, and hong

kong's prosperity. but china is slowly tightening control. as its parliament came to a close in beijing, hong kong's politicians were in disarray over another new law. if passed, it would make disrespecting china's national anthem a criminal offence. john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. president trump has signed an executive order ta rgetting social media companies, after being angered by twitter tagging two of his posts as potentially misleading. he said companies, including google, facebook and twitter, had unchecked power to censor and restrict the views of users. mr trump has accused the companies of political activism. police and protestors in minneapolis have clashed for a second night following the death of an unarmed

black man in police custody.